What is the policy if people are simply wrong?

I know, let’s lynch the fuckers!!

No worries mate… I have never seen you post something that wasn’t a line from a Jack Whitehall skit. That is all fact.

I say call them out. Otherwise, how will we learn anything?

And by “we”, I mean the other viewing/participating jellies – not so much the OP, but maybe.

And I was actually wondering if we should flag stuff like, “the sun revolves around the earth.”

Who the fuck’s Jack Whitehall? Oh & calm down dear, you’re going to burst a vein!

@ucme :: You should watch Bad Education and Fresh Meat.

Fight them!

@johnpowell No, you’re wrong with both posts so far, keep it up, then maybe point the question to yourself.

Generally, I like things from the UK.

Go on, hit the GA button on my answers, you know you want to.

@ucme Who the fuck’s Jack Whitehall?

Jack Whitehall from Wikipedia:

Jack Peter Benedict Whitehall (born 7 July 1988) is a British comedian, television presenter and actor. He was a former host of the E4 show Big Brother’s Big Mouth in 2008, Celebrity Big Brother’s Big Mouth in January 2009 and the Channel 4 topical entertainment show the TNT Show. He currently stars as JP in the TV series Fresh Meat, and as Alfie Wickers in the TV series Bad Education. As of 2012, he is a regular panellist on the game show A League Of Their Own.

@johnpowell And I was actually wondering if we should flag stuff like, “the sun revolves around the earth.”

I think it would create a lot of headache for the mod team, so I say let the community call it out.

I think it would be absolute hell for the mod team to have to start deciding if this person is right and that one wrong. Often there is no ‘right’ answer just different perspectives. Even when the situation is much clearer, I think it is better for the community to call out those who just post unsubstantiated opinion or downright rubbish. That way also means the rest of the community can see the progression of the discussion. If the posts deemed by the mod team to be inaccurate are removed, in a way it protects those who do post misinformation.

@FutureMemory Yeah, I know his face, but the name didn’t ring any bells.
He’s a bit of a posh tw@ public school type not my cup of tea, apparently I directly quote his stuff, not only that, but exclusively so…work that one out :/

Unless the flat out wrong info is actually dangerous in some way, I think members should handle refuting the information. If someone said something like “mixing X chemical and Y chemical makes a nice natural cleaner”, but it actually makes a nice bomb…then by all means flag it for us to remove it!

You should challenge the error in fact in the threads, and then leave it up to the community.

It also seems to me that posting a mistaken response to a straightforward question in General is worth flagging. If someone asks, “What’s the best way to get stains out of a dark green shirt?” and one of the responses is “Put some bleach on it to remove the stain while saving the color,” that would seem to qualify as “unhelpful” in virtue of being false.

I would handle it the exact same way I do IRL. Gently try to correct the erroneous statement. But then it really all depends on how wrong the statement is and whether it’s going to make any difference anyway. The examples above are ones that I would type as fast as my fingers could go but 95% of the answers here are individual experiences and beliefs. I just counter with my own experiences and beliefs and let the cards fall where they may.

Flag this, because it…

is spam
is a personal attack
is unhelpful
is obscene
has too many typos
is flame-bait
doesn’t meet quality standards
is off-topic
Is factually incorrect: I checked with JP.
Something else…

Add your comments

How can the community sort it out? If you so much address people directly —let alone confront them—you get modded big time. It doesn’t matter if you are asking for clarification or if you are telling them to get their facts straight. It depends on the mods’ mood. If other members try to correct the person on their own, they get the usual [Mod says…] calm down or whatever it is they say.

I used the little search window and typed in “mod.” There have been over 10,750 questions and answers about modding on this site. The subject has been beat to a bloody pulp.

This site is a tiny speck in the vast Internet. We are minuscule, but we offer a service for free. If a person has a question, they may bring it here, and we will do our best to answer it.

Within that simple parameter, we have a set of simple rules, which are easily accessible to anyone who can read English by clicking “help” and then exploring the different tabs. It is unnecessary for me to elaborate those rules here. Read them.

There is a dedicated group of volunteers who work to enforce the guidelines. They do it for free. They spend their leisure time keeping the site free of spam and running smoothly. It is time consuming, and I doubt it is any fun at all.

I’m sure this will not be the last thread that in the end questions the moderation team.

Clearly we should mount denial of service attacks on these people. ;-)

Apparently, “we” give them a generous portion of lurve…fancy that!

‘Factually’ wrong can be an iffy term. Some people may consider a fringe opinion to be factually wrong on here, though I see your point. Obviously the capital of Pennsylvania isn’t Providence.

It is in an alternate universe.

Not completely on target, but maybe not entirely irrelevant either, and I liked it: this cartoon.

I like it too @Jeruba. Good find.

I don’t understand how they found my picture and used it for the cartoon without explicit permission.